Paul Briaye

A French documentary filmmaker, Paul Brihaye explores with rare sensitivity the themes of memory, imagination, and overlooked life stories. A graduate of the Glasgow School of Art and the Master's program 'Documentary: Writings of the Contemporary World' at Université Paris Cité, he has forged his vision in the field, placing accessibility at the heart of his art. His graduation film, Des nouvelles de là-haut, enjoyed a strong festival run, earning recognition at Faito Doc in Italy.

Now based in Paris, he navigates between directing, editing creative documentaries (Grands Garçons, Mamie Kim), and teaching at EFREI. A committed artist, Paul has led impactful participatory projects, notably at the Ateliers Médicis, giving voice to communities disconnected from institutions. Whether filming sewer workers in Val-de-Marne or advising on impact content strategies (over one million views for the media outlet 2050 Now), he consistently seeks to transform shared spaces into vehicles for expression. Currently writing his first fiction feature film, Le Monde à l'envers, he continues to document the authentic and the intimate with aesthetic and human rigor.

For his residency at Rocabella, Paul Brihaye embarks on a crucial phase of research and creation for his feature film project, Le Monde à l'envers. Accustomed to working on the margins and shadow narratives, he here confronts his documentary vision with the solar elegance of the Riviera. The Rocabella estate, with its history-laden villas and Mediterranean landscapes, becomes an ideal narrative playground to explore the contrast between appearance and intimacy.

Taking advantage of the serenity of the location, Paul aims to transform Rocabella into an 'off-site' writing laboratory. His project involves capturing the estate's traces of memory—both architectural and human—to feed the imagination of his film. Drawing on his expertise as an editor and sound recordist, he plans to use the acoustics and light of the coastline to define the sensory identity of his work. This residency is also an opportunity to design lightweight participatory frameworks, involving the local ecosystem in his creative reflection. At Rocabella, Paul Brihaye is not simply looking for a backdrop, but a creative partner capable of revealing how every space, even the most majestic, can tell a universal and profoundly human story.